Where each one leads
Mercedes-Benz 500
Ahead on none of the like-for-like measures.
Porsche 928
- Against cars of the same year, the Porsche 928 comes out better in New York safety inspections (fails 40% less often than average) than the Mercedes-Benz 500 (fails 22% less often than average).
- Fewer Porsche 928 cars in the Netherlands carry an illogical odometer record (40.3% against 49.3%).
Only measures that do not depend on how many cars were sold: pass and failure rates against cars of the same age, ratings, fuel use and CO₂. How we compare
At a glance
| Mercedes-Benz 500 | Porsche 928 | |
|---|---|---|
| Model years in the US safety record | 1984–2003 | 1981–1995 |
| Licensed in the United Kingdom | 1,236 | 700 |
| On the road in the Netherlands | 897 | 813 |
EEA new-car registrations (CC BY 4.0) · DVLA licensed vehicles (OGL v3.0) · RDW (CC0) · Traficom (CC BY 4.0) · generations: Wikidata (CC0).
Reliability and problems
| Mercedes-Benz 500 | Porsche 928 | |
|---|---|---|
| New York safety inspections failed | 0.9% | 0.5% |
| … against cars of the same year | −22% | −40% |
| Illogical odometer records (NL) | 49.3% | 40.3% |
| US owner complaints | 98 | 3 |
| Most complaints about | Electrical system | Power train |
| Model year with most complaints | 1993 (23) | 1981 (1) |
| US recall campaigns | 2 | 7 |
| Manufacturer service bulletins | 18 | 1,084 |
| NHTSA defect investigations | 5 | — |
Complaint, recall and bulletin counts grow with the number of cars sold and are not adjusted for it. UK MOT: DVSA anonymised MOT results (OGL v3.0); New York: DMV inspections; complaints, recalls, bulletins and investigations: NHTSA (public domain); odometer: RDW (CC0).
Fuel, emissions and price
| Mercedes-Benz 500 | Porsche 928 | |
|---|---|---|
| Official combined fuel use, Canada | — | 15.8 l/100 km (1995) |
Canada: NRCan Fuel Consumption Ratings, most frugal version of the latest year (OGL Canada). Europe: EEA monitoring of new-car CO₂ and on-board fuel meters (OBFCM), CC BY 4.0. Price: RDW catalogue price (CC0). Finland: Traficom (CC BY 4.0).